♪ the u.s. president trump returns home to controversy. waiting for him at the front doorsteps, the latest over contacts between his son-in-law jared kushner and russian contacts. and days after the terror attack, we'll have a live report. and dozens of passengers stranded when flights were suspended out of two of england's biggest airports. >> that couldn't be fun. >> no, it doesn't look fun at all. >> welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm natalie allen. >> and i'm george howell.

newsroom starts right now. ♪ our top story, u.s. president donald trump back at the white house after an eight-day trip to the middle east and europe, but while he was gone, the political firestorm back home over russian meddling in the election grew even bigger >> to the heart of the controversy, his own son-in-law, jared kushner. you see the u.s. president, donald trump, video taken earlier as he returned to washington. as he walked to the white house with the first lady, he was asked about it. >> mr. president -- [ inaudible ] >> well, as you just saw, mr. trump would not answer. for the latest on what happens next, here's cnn's ryan nobles.

>> reporter: president trump is back in washington after his lengthy trip abroad. and even though his team feels confident the trip was successful, he returns to plenty of controversy, including a number of issues involving his son-in-law and senior adviser, jared kushner. kushner has yet to respond to reports that he had set up a secret back channel line of communication with the russians. it continues to be a line of inquiry by investigators, looking for russia's attempt to intervene in the election. despite this, a white house official says kushner isn't going anywhere. he plans to keep his head down and keep focussed on his wide port f portfolio in the west wing. meanwhile, the white house it shaking things up, creating a war room. and the president's children are getting involved as well. donald jr. and eric trump, his wife laura spending the last few

days in washington, meeting with trump-aligned groups in and outside of the white house, including groups at the rnc and pac priorities which supports the trump administration. the goal of these meetings was to get all of these teams on the same page ahead of the 2018 midterm elections and the president's own reelection bid in 2020. ryan nobles, cnn, washington. setting up the so-called war room that ryan nobles just mentioned is in the early stages. possible members are white house chief of staff reince priebus and steve bannon, corey lewandowski and david bossie are also mentioned. neither of those two are in the trump administration but are loyalists. >> they are brushing aside questions about russia. here's how trump's national security adviser responded to reporters on saturday about it.

>> we're not going to comment on jared. we're just not going to comment. >> generally speaking, general, would you be concerned if someone on the national security council or someone in this administration were to seek a back channel communication system with the russian members and with the kremlin? would that concern you not to address specifically but in general terms? >> no. we have back channel communications with a number of countries. so generally speaking about back channel communications, what that allows you to do is to communicate in a discrete manner, so to doesn't predispose you. so no, we would not be concerned about it. >> cnn u.s. security analyst, julia khaiem elaborated on what a back channel is. >> a back channel is an authorized, right, overture, so

authorized by the president, so i do wonder if trump authorized this, an authorized overture, mostly to a third party, to begin discussions about changing policy with another country, so the best example of a back channel is, for example, we wanted to start overtures with cuba at the obama administration. that's hard to do. there are laws against it. so you go to the pope, actually. this is public knowledge now. the pope then sort of creates a situation in which the two countries can speak as countries, not as a son-in-law. speak as countries and what their policies are, to begin to change policy over time. so generally a back channel is authorized. it utilizes united states am rat us. it doesn't go to the russian other cubans and involves a third party. and when h.r. mcmaster said they happen all the time, he was going like too cute.

because of course back channels are happening all the type. this was not a back channel. this was a covert overture to avoid the u.s. apparatus. >> so julia kayyem describing this as a way to change policy over time, claire sebastian joining us from moscow, but first i want to ask you, generally, about this term back channel. there's obviously a great deal of shock by many here that such a thing was even proposed by an incoming administration through a russian embassy of all places. but generally speaking, is this at all common for russia to agree to a back channel with other nations or incoming administrations? >> reporter: well, i think just like the u.s., george, this is something that is done in kind of diplomatic circles. certainly in seasoned diplomats like the russian ambassador, sergei kislyak would have been well familiar with this kind of practice. there are a couple things that

are very unusual here. one the suggestion by jared kushner was to set up a back channel for michael flynn to speak to russian military officials in moscow. that was still while they were in the transition. they weren't in power yet. and the u.s. had military personnel in syria. so this would have raised serious questions whether they were doing this to undercut the policy of the current administration. that is not done by a transition team and not so much the principle, but the method. using the technical equipment in the russian embassy in washington would be said to be, seem to be extremely unusual. certainly, the "washington post" reported that they were said to have been taken aback by this. that relates more to the method that was suggested than the principle of that, george. >> the story line itself, quite controversial, important to point out that we have not yet

heard jared kushner's side. he's not a suspect, just a person of scrutiny by the fbi at this point. here's the question. the u.s. president had clearly campaigned on the hope of improving relations with russia and russia, hoping to see the lifting of sanctions on that end. but more to the point here, claire, as the reality of the investigations, as all the questions continue to harden, what is the view from russia about that possibility? >> reporter: well, there's kind of two aspects to this, george. on the one hand, the russian government is extremely frustrated at all the russia-related controversy coming out of washington. we saw that in the reaction that we got yesterday, very curt response from the foreign ministry to the "washington post" reports originally about jared kushner's suggestion of this secret back channel, the parliamentary spokesperson saying this was quite mccarthyism or internal

political squabbles, mccarthyism that they are concerned that the whole russia issue is being used by trump's opponents to discredit him. but they are worried in terms of policy, the kind of reset that was promised by the many comments that trump made on the campaign trail does not seem to be materializing, and they are looking for any clues, any bread crumbs, and comments like this from gary kohn on the foreign trip that the president just completed would be extremely concerning to russia. take a listen. >> we're not lowering our sanctions on russia. if anything, we would probably look to get tougher on russia. so the president wants to continue to, you know, keen the sanctions in place. >> sanctions are a critical issue for putin, stinging not only the economy but the sense of national pride here.

so that capping the frustration over all the russia-related reports coming out of washington. this was really not very good news for moscow, george. >> it is a mix of messages. there was the photo taken with the president, mr. lavrov and kislyak in the oval office. but at the same time, mixed messages coming from members close to the president. claire sebastian for us live in moscow. thank you for the reporting today. one place for president trump did seem more comfortable was when he was addressing hundreds of u.s. troops and their families before returning to washington. take a look here at the scene at a naval air station in sicily, on the final stop of his overseas trip. mr. trump didn't mention the growing controversy at home over the alleged contacts between the campaign and russia. instead, he touted what he called the success of his trip and said that he had hit a home run. >> i was here in sicily to

attend very important summit meeting. the meeting of the g-7. it was a tremendously productive meeting where i strengthened american bonds. we have freiggreat bonds with o countries. and with some of our closest allies we conclude add truly historic week for our country. the u.s. is currently paying much more than any other nation, and that is not fair to the united states or the united states taxpayer. so we're working on it, and i will tell you, a big difference over the last year. money is actually starting to pour in to nato. >> well, we should find out in the coming days if the u.s. will pull out of the landmark paris accord. president trump tweeted saturday he will make a decision about that next week. during the g-7 summit in sicily, world leaders pressed him on

that issue. mr. trump however left the summit without directly reaffirming his commitment to the accord in his official dispatch from the g-7, unlike the other leaders there, including german chancellor angela merkel. >> translator: the entire discussion about climate was very difficult, if not to say very dissatisfying. we have a situation where six, or if you also include the eu, seven, are against one. we didn't beat about the bush but rather made it very clear that we six of the g-7 member states, plus the eu, continue to support the targets. this paris climate agreement is not just any old agreement, but rather a central agreement for the course of globalization. >> angela merkel expressing her frustration there. scott lucas joins us from

birmingham, england. he's a professor at the university of birmingham. thanks for joining us, and we a were hearing from angela merkel there. and we know that president trump didn't have much to say when the other leaders were talking about climate change. he of course has been a staunch opponent in believing in climate change. but let's start with the overall trip. we know this president gloats and views it as a huge success. what was accomplished for him on the world stage do you think? >> i think in contrast to the lavish reception he received in saudi arabia where he was on safer ground, and that went relatively well, and even the israeli leg of the trip, the photo ops were good even if very little substance occurred. the european leg of trump's trip did not go well, and indeed, beyond the controversy over the trump russia investigation, it bodes very badly for u.s. relations. that is not only because of the division over climate change

which occurred yesterday, but before that, trump's remarks to fellow mato leaders were extremely disturbing. because whale repeating the mantra, you must pay more, you must pay more, you must pay more, what he failed to do was reaffirm a commitment to collective self-defense, this article v. now this article has guided nato through the cold war and beyond, and trump is the first leader not to give full backing to it. so not only are european leaders uneasy, you're looking at a realignment here. you're looking at merkel working with macron and saying we can't count on the u.s. to lead many we need to start making our own arrangements. >> and he returns home and has another questionable issue. he has no government experience. he is really a relative unknown, few have heard him speak, this

back channel with russia and what jared was trying to do, do you chalk this up to naivete or incompetence or something else? >> if we were playing football, we finished one-ups and are getting into the real game. because jared kushner is not a naïve individual nor inexperienced. he is a businessman. but not only did donald trump try to deal with them as if it is a business transaction, you can't do that in government. there's a foreign policy that has to be maintained. and the key here, if kushner had done this and if michael flynn, the national security advise earn hadviser had done this when trump was inaugurated. he'd be okay. when you do this of about you are inaugurated without the knowledge of the obama administration, you're undercutting u.s. policy. that is an absolute no-no. and it does raise, as former cia

directors have questioned, it raises questions whether that political transgression is one that goes further, that actual criminal activity took place. we'll have to wait and see. >> there seem to be so many tentacles coming out of the russia investigation. it's probably mind-numbing to some people trying to keep up with it. so what do you think will happen with jared kushner, meantime, as the administration looks to set up its war room now to deal with so much on their plate vis-a-vis russia. >> let's get back to fundamentals. we have a fbi investigation that trump could not prevent, despite his efforts. it's now expanding. we've got two congressional investigations. those have already led to the resignation of michael flynn, the national security adviser, but now you have gone as close as you can to trump without reaching kushner. these are all in the wake of

russi russian interference to hope trump get elected. did he make promises to the russians that sanction would be removed because trump had been elected. if that connection was made, and i stress if, it not only takes us into the football game but to the fourth kwar dquarter and th possibility that trump himself will be affected. >> scott lucas, thank you. >> it is interesting, mr. kushner, you don't hear much from him, you see him in the background of photos. he's agreed to be very clear and transparent with congress if questioned. those statements would be scrutinized under oath and compared to other statements. so you do see a white house now that will be under a great deal of pressure, because the words will matter. the facts are quite stubborn here. >> and it continues to get more complex. >> indeed. still ahead here on newsroom. manchester refuses to be broken

by terror. how the city is moving forward after the terror attack ahead. also british airways hoping to get back to business after a major computer outage strands thousands. we'll have a live report from heathrow airport. coming up here, you're watching "cnn newsroom." you won't see these folks they have businesses to run. they have passions to pursue. how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters, ship packages, all the services of the post office right on your computer.

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well, manchester is getting back to normal, or trying to, days after the concert terror attack. security is tight. residents are of course still mourning the victims with the city's annual manchester run going ahead as planned. >> other races are set to follow. mohammad lila following this story live in manchester this hour. if you could set the scene for us with the memorial that grows behind you to honor the people who were wounded, who were killed in this attack. but, again, this is a city that continues to move forward. >> reporter: well, that's right. moving forward is the exact description. this is a very important weekend in terms of things going on in the it city. there's the half marathon, the 10k run, and concerts. all of those would draw people from around the region and possibly from around all of the uk. and there was a concern earlier

this week that some of these events might not take place. but generally, the public rose up and expressed a demand tor these things to take place as a way to show the uk and the rest of the world that manchester is moving through this difficult phase. but i should point out that there are additional security personnel. there are armed police officers walking around, patrolling the streets, something you doesn't see regularly in the uk. pause weigh know officers generally don't carry firearms. >> so security as you say is tight. we see some of the images beside you on the screen. also the investigation continues. the searches are continuing to occur. what more can you tell us about the investigation itself, information about the bomb, where that was assembled, mohammad? >> reporter: well, george, the bomb, police believe, was assembled in a flat. they believe they've identified a flat, which is an apartment, which was being used by the suspect, and of course that's going to be a very key part of

the investigation. there would be forensic teams that would go to try to discover any residue, any materials that may have been there. and last night police released the first images of the suspect, salman abedi. and some interesting numbers, george, in terms of the total investigation. british police have said that there are 1,000 people that have been assigned as part of this investigation. that means they have 1,000 people that are combing through leads and following the investigation and moving that investigation forward. so that gives you a sense of the scope of the number of people involved. and police believe they do, they are getting closer to tracking down this network that they believe enabled them to carry out this plot in the first place. >> 9:24 in the morning there in manchester where mohammad lila is following the story. mohammad, thank you. british airways says it's hoping to operate near normal

with a schedule on sunday, this after this. a major computer outage grounded all the airline's flights, at two of britain's busiest airports. you feel so bad. >> some of us have been there. but yes, two airports. thousands of travelers are stranded after a power supply issue brought down the system at heathrow and gatwood. nina desantos joins us live from heathrow and has probably been talking with people and assessing where they are in trying to get back up and in the air. hi, nina. >> reporter: hi there, hi, natalie. i have actually been speaking to some stricken passengers just in the last hour or so. many of them having to spend the night on sleeping bags issued by british airways because there were just no hotel rooms, even if the airline wanted to get them into a hotel room. some of them tried to get hotel

rooms themselves, got to the hotel and found it was triple booked. lots of exasperation among these travelers, and some of them say they were left there without information until 10:30 to 11:00 at night after which british airways representatives rounded them up and helped them find some kind of sofa to share in some of these hotels and elsewhere. but when it comes to services, today british airways is saying that gatwood services are resuming as normal. they're hoping that the majority of services will be returning to normal. i should tell you that having looked at the departures board, it does look as if there is a lot of green there, a lot of flights on time. but a lot of travelers got stranded yesterday, for them, this is a tense time. because they don't know when they're goal ing to be able to back any of these flights.

the people currently booked for these flights today may well take the flight and will have to try and find something else and make sure that they're not staying in another hotel room sleeping bag for another night. >> i don't know what else to say. it was called a power supply, not a cyber attack. have they commented on how that happened or if they'll be able to prevent something like that in the future? >> reporter: yeah, at the moment, there hasn't been any word about what type of power supplies caused these massive i.t. failures here. remember at one point, you know, you couldn't even get on the website. i've just checked it now. and if you do look for flight status you can check it now and that is working in the last hour. in the last hour or so it wasn't. but as you said twice there they've come out and said this hasn't been a cyber attack. it is a power outage. they're desperate lly sorry upo

this. they had to rely upon social kbleed a media and ask the media to tell passengers what to do and whether their flights why canceled or not. the departure boards at heathrow is working. if you are a passenger go to those types of websites. do not come to heathrow or gatwick if you don't know whether your flight is confirmed. back to you. >> nina del santos, thank you. two men killed as they tried to calm down a man allegedly shouting racist slurs. why eyewitnesses are calling him a hero. also racist rant caught on camera. why more people are reporting the incident and posting them online. >> you're watching cnn news line live from atlanta around the world. stay with us. finding time to get things done isn't easy.

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go to xfinity.com/myaccount and welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. you're watching "cnn newsroom" live from atlanta. >> and i'm george howell with the headlines this hour. british police have identified the location they say may have been where the manchester bomb was assembled. they've also released two still photographs of bomber salman abedi. they think the bomb was put together at a city center apartment. thousands of travelers stranded at two of london's busiest airports, all due to a major computer outage.

british airways canceled all flights from heathrow and gatwick airports. the schedule is expected to be near normal on sunday. senior white house officials are refusing to comment on reports that jared kushner wanted to set up secret communications with the kremlin. kushner is president trump's son-in-law and personal adviser. h.r. mcmaster brushed aside questions from reporters saying the u.s. has back channel conversations with several countries. and the president will decide in the coming days whether the united states will stay in the paris accord. the president did not sign on to a joint statement endorsing the accord when the summit wrapped up. the fbi is investigating a

stabbing on a train in portland. the suspect started yelling hateful slurs at two muslim women. >> police say the two men were killed trying to intervene and calm him down. a professor of one of the victims described him as quote, a wonderful human being who always asked intelligent questions in class and called him a hero. our dan lieberman has more on this attack. >> reporter: portland, oregon police are now identifying the suspect in a brutal stabbing, 35-year-old jeremy joseph christian was booked on murder charged after allegedly stabbing three people on a crowded commuter train during rush hour yesterday. two of those victims died. >> it's horrific. >> reporter: video shows christian at a rally, shouting racist slurs and making nazi

solutes wee salutes. >> saying get out of country. you don't pay taxes here. he doesn't like muslims, because they're like, they're criminals. >> reporter: authorities believe the comments were directed towards two female passengers. one wearing a hijab. others intervened. and that's when the violence broke out. >> i go to reach out to start pulling people apart. then i see that there's just blood everywhere. again, it happened so fast, but it looked like every punch that i saw was actually a stab. >> reporter: two men were killed. and police say the suspect fled the train. he was later arrested in a nearby neighborhood. >> when he got off the train, i saw he was holding a knife. and then he says, "don't follow me." >> reporter: first responders tried to save one victim's life, but he died at the scene. the other died at the hospital. another who was stabbed is expected to survive. two others were also wounded.

jeff merkley responded on twitter saying terrible tragedy on portland's train. hate is evil. dan lieberman, cnn, new york. >> dan, thank you for the reporting. even as some people in the u.s. experience racism first hand, they're also pulling out their cell phones and starting to record what happens. >> our reporter explains why many are posting videos online. >> reporter: a series of racist rants in public. >> [ bleep ]. >> reporter: and on camera. >> [ bleep ]. a woman in a virginia sprint store hurled a racial slur at a fellow customer. >> [ bleep ]. >> reporter: in arkansas -- >> i said excuse me. >> go back where you're from. >> reporter: go back to mexico, is what this walmart shopper told another. she nthen fired the n-word to another woman who tried to

interject. >> stop being ignorant. >> reporter: then there's this captured on a phone at the airport last week. >> shut up, shut up. >> unbelievable. >>na >> that is sad. >> reporter: torres telling cnn he was speaking spanish to his puerto rican mother on the phone when things got heated. >> explain what i did to you one more time? >> talking that [ bleep ] spanish around here when everybody else is english speaking. >> reporter: racist rants are not new, says andre gillespie, at emory university. >> these videos remind us that race has been a constant and persistent problem in the united states. >> reporter: there's been a spike of the number of racist rants posted on social media. >> as technology becomes more and more mainstream and more and more people are having smartphone devices and video

capability is going to be exploding more and more. >> reporter: recording these types of confrontations also may empower people to expose the racism says gillespie. there could also be a trump fabl tor behind it all. >> people feel more emboldened to express politically incorrect views as a result of president trump's success in using political incorrectness to be elected. but it's important people held these points of view long before president trump emerged as a political figure. >> reporter: the rapts may be g ugly. >> [ bleep ]. >> reporter: but it sparks a wider conversation about race. >> the thing about those individual quos, alvideos, when they're posted, they're there for a long, long time. >> his point was hopeful think will spark larger conversations with race, and certainly, we've got a ways to go in that

conversation. next here on "cnn newsroom," the u.s. president gives a statement of solidarity with the leader of the philippines, and now parts of that country are under martial law. we'll have a report just ahead. plus iraqi troops say they are close to taking the rest of mosul from isis. what we know about this latest offensive. as "cnn newsroom" continues.

the bloody effort to retake the city of mosul. there are important new steps that are under way. officials say that a large operation started saturday to retake the last areas in the city's west that remain under isis control. >> the battle for mosul started last october but victory now does seem to be in sight. they are pushing toward the old city and feel confident as this fight drags on. >> reporter: rapid response forces advanced. we managed to break their

defenses and went some 500 meters inside the district. morale is high, and we will keep advancing, and god willing we will fully recapture the district today or tomorrow. president duterte appears to have put his foot in it again over soldiers. he said if any of them were to rape three women he would personally claim responsibility for it. mr. duterte made the rae mark in a speech to soldiers on mend now island where he imposed martial law on tuesday. he is trying to crush isis-linked rebels who have invaded the island. u.s. president trump has released a statement of solidarity with the philippine president. >> and that despite concerns over mr. duterte's use of martial law and many other things that he has said.

will ripley reports. >> i said, do not force my hand into it. >> reporter: he's the mastermind of a bloody drug war, has bragged about personally killing people. and this week imposed martial law to fight terrorism. the philippines strong-man president, rodrigo duterte has even compared himself to hitler for his quest to exterminate drug criminals. human rights groups have condemned him. president trump has praised him in what the white house describ describes as a very friendly phone call last month, saying i just want to congratulate you because of what i'm hearing on the drug problem. a senior u.s. official verified the basics of the conversation, adding he was not condoning violence and human rights

violations. cnn has reported extensively on the philippines drug war and the thousands killed in its poorest slums, openly encouraged by the government. >> i have seen some of those colorful statements in the past. >> reporter: when former president obama criticized bloodshed, duterte called him a son of a bitch and told him to go to hell. but with trump, duterte has a good rapport. unlike his predecessor, he seems unconcerned and lavishes praise on authoritarian leaders. on the philippine president's home of mend now, he has authorized martial law. the constitution says martial law should last a maximum of 60 days. duterte says it could go on for a year. from the white house thursday, a

statement of solidarity and a promise the u.s. will continue to provide support and assistance to philippine counter-terrorism efforts. will ripley, cnn. all righty, then. let's move on to the weather, shall we? sri lanka experiencing flooding monsoon rains. >> there are several areas receiving flooding, and across the u.s. as well. we are following a flash flood situation in branson, missouri. we're going to go to some of the damage. this is part of a larger storm system that spawned off tornados as well. currently, there are three missing from this flooding in missouri. this is in southwestern sections of the state. the city experienced significant rainfall in the overnight period and it forced dozens of water rescues within the city. in fact, lake taneycomo has

risen. and check this out. this is the latest warnins across the state. here's missouri, just south of springfield, that's the area we're focussing our attention on now. that is an area that has seen a significant a rein inain in a s period of time. thunderstorms blew up over branson, observed rainfall in the past 12 hours, four to six, perhaps seven inches of rain, and that has caused the flooding and the swift water rescues as we speak. this has come off an extremely active severe weather day, this being the 27th of may on saturday. but really, it's not the tornadic vent that's caused the problem. it's wind and the hail, litderred across the ohio and tennessee river valley, stretching toward the ozarks.

as we head into the day on sunday, texas, louisiana, mississippi and into alabama. southern michigan, all the way to the mid atlantic states, a slight risk of severe storms as these continue to march eastward. let's bring you to sri lanka, roll the footage and you'll see the extreme nodding thflooding are contending w we have a higher death toll. 91 people missing, death toll is at 113. the good news here is that aid is now arriving in sri lanka from international united nations agencies. and while they need it, because it's going to be several days if not weeks with the cleanup efforts with the rains. >> the pictures there really tell the story. >> yeah, it really does. still ahead on newsroom, words of regret for a donald trump voter. >> he played me for a fool. i kind of took it personal.

>> why some of the president's biggest supporters are now losing faith in their candidate. allergy sufferers if you have symptoms like these

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newsroom." gregg allman died saturday. he was 69 years old, battling cancer. ♪ ♪ midnight rider >> that's one of his hits. allman had numerous hits of course during his nearly 50 year career, including "midnight rider" and "ramblin' man s". >> he was working on a new album at the time of his death. now some of the people in the country's poorest areas say if the election were held today they might change their votes. gary tuckman has this report. >> reporter: wesley easter ling and his 2-year-old daughter riley live in the heart of appalachian, elliot county, kentucky. >> i voted for donald trump.

>> reporter: which is noteworthy, because donald trump is the first republican candidate he's ever voted for. elliot county was founded in 1869. there have been 37 presidential elections since then. remarkably, the democratic candidate in those have won every one except this one. and donald trump won big here, getting more than 70% of the vote. many people like wesley easterling believing. >> he had a lot of amazing ideas, this charisma about him. he is something different. >> reporter: this county is one of the poorest ones in the country, the poverty rate of 34%. and one of the largest groups of people who rely on federal benefit programs. and wesley easterling is one of them. they benefit from medicaid and food stamps. during the campaign, he took candidate trump at his word. >> save med care, medicaid and

social security without cuts. have to do it. >> when he said that he, you know, he wasn't going to cut medicaid or, you know, the benefits of, i believed that. >> reporter: but the proposed new health care plan and the proposed federal budget cut hundreds of millions of dollars a year from medicaid and cuts food stamps and social security disability insurance. >> i mean, i felt just like i was insulted, just like he played me for a fool. i mean, i kind of took it personal. >> reporter: if you could do it over again, if election day were today, who would you vote for? >> hillary, without a doubt. >> reporter: inside elliot county's penny mart we spoke to other voters, like bluegrass musici musician sammy atkins. if the election were held today, who would you vote for?

>> i'd have to wait and see a little bit more. it's his office. if he does a lot of cutting and stuff, i'm sure it night might the other way. >> reporter: but this voter says he would enthusiastically vote for trump again. what do you say? >> tough luck. you have to do what you have to do, nip it in the bud as barney fife says. >> reporter: wesley easterling just graduated and hopes to get a refinery job soon to be off federal assistance. >> donald trump during the campaign said he's going to fight for the little guy. you're the little guy, right? >> i am the little guy. >> reporter: do you feel he's fighting for you? in no, not at all. little guy's going to have to fight for himself. >> reporter: in the meantime, he says he is praying for his family, his country and his

president. gary touchman, cnn, elliot county, kentucky. >> the news continues here on cnn. right after the break.

the u.s. president returns to washington to a slough of problems weighti problems waiting for him, including new allegations surrounding his son-in-law, jared kushner. getting back on track. british airlines working frantically. canceled flights at heathrow. the effect there.